In the strength training realm, women have always been thought of as "inferior" to men—unable to gain strength or muscle mass as quickly.

While it’s a widely accepted sentiment (even by females themselves), dig deeper into the scientific literature, and you’ll soon realize that “You lift like a girl” isn’t truly an insult like toxic masculinity thinks it is.

But what does that mean, exactly?

Well, you’ll have to continue reading to find out. This article explores women's muscle rate gain relative to men's and other sex-related training differences.

Myth busted: Women gain relative muscle mass at the same rate when strength training

Let’s get this out of the way right from the start. Research (here, here, and here, amongst others) shows long-term, relative rates of muscle growth and strength gains to be roughly equal for men and women.

In other words: if a man gets 15% stronger post-training (compared to his baseline strength), a woman can also expect to get 15% stronger after strength training (also compared to her baseline strength). The same goes for muscle gain rates.

You're probably reeling in disbelief—and have 2 questions weighing heavily on your mind. Don't worry; we'll address them right away:

Interested in boosting your testosterone levels anyway? Check out this article:

Other women vs. men strength training differences

Right. So, the relative rates of muscle mass and strength gains in women and men are similar when strength training.

Does that mean women and men should follow the same training program? Not necessarily.

That's because, barring results, there is still a handful of ways women differ from men in terms of strength training.

Applying all this to your training

But wait. How does the knowledge above benefit you? Well, here’s how:

? If you were born a man

Honestly, nothing much will change for you. Just make sure you’re training hard, eating well, recovering adequately, and you’ll be grand in terms of muscle growth and strength gains.

Oh, and of course, stop using the phrase, “You lift like a girl” (if you were)—you now know girls can put on muscle and gain strength just as well as you (relatively), so you have no excuse now.

P.S: Find out what “training hard”, “eating well”, and “recovering adequately” mean here:

? If you were born a woman

To optimize your strength training results, you may wish to consider tweaking your program in 4 ways:

1. Increase the number of reps you do in any given training session
2. Train more frequently (e.g., 5 times a week, instead of 3 times)
3. Use heavier weights (your body can take it—trust us)
4. Concentrate your training during the follicular phase (e.g., 5 times a week during the follicular phase, compared to 3 times a week during the luteal phase).

Note that how many times you work out a week ultimately depends on your fitness goals and lifting experience. Find out more here:

All that said, though, one thing’s worth remembering: regardless of your sex, you’d do well with a well-programmed workout routine that:

• Suits your fitness goals
• Accounts for your equipment availability
• Pushes you as and when needed (think: progressive overload)

And that’s where GymStreak comes in.